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              <h1>Boost FAQ</h1>
            </div>

            <div class="section-body">
              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How do I download the
              libraries?</span> See the <a href="download">downloads</a>.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">What do the Boost
              version numbers mean?</span> The scheme is x.y.z, where x is
              incremented only for massive changes, such as a reorganization
              of many libraries, y is incremented whenever a new library is
              added, and z is incremented for maintenance releases. y and z
              are reset to 0 if the value to the left changes.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Is there any
              assurance libraries actually work as claimed?</span> No. The
              review process will hopefully eliminate the most seriously
              flawed libraries, but a well constructed library with hidden
              defects is likely to slip through. Encouraging ordinary users
              to report their experience with a library is intended to
              address such concerns. Consult the <a href=
              "../development/testing.html">test results</a> for an
              indication of how well a library works on specific
              platforms.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How can the Boost
              libraries be used successfully for important projects?</span>
              Many of the Boost libraries are actively maintained and
              improved, so backward compatibility with prior version isn't
              always possible. Deal with this by freezing the version of the
              Boost libraries used by your project. Only upgrade at points in
              your project's life cycle where a bit of change will not cause
              problems. Individual bug fixes can always be obtained from the
              boost repository.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How can I contribute
              to development?</span> To participate in development, you need
              to subscribe to the <a href=
              "https://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost">Boost
              developers' list</a>. Once you've done that, some paths to
              contribution are:</p>

              <ol class="faq">
                <li>Submit patches for new features or bug fixes. Pick any
                ticket from <a href="https://github.com/boostorg/">our bug
                tracking system</a> on GitHub and get started. If existing
                library maintainers don't already know your work, this is
                a good way to become known as someone they can trust to
                do good work.</li>

                <li>Become part of a particular library's community, and
                become known to the library maintainer(s) by participating in
                design discussions (some libraries, e.g. Spirit, have their
                <a href="/community/groups.html#projects">own mailing
                lists</a> where you'd do that).</li>

                <li>Become a library maintainer through the 
                <a href="/community/official_library_maintainer_program.html">Boost
                Library Official Maintainer Program</a> or as member of the
                <a href="https://svn.boost.org/trac10/wiki/CommunityMaintenance">
                Boost Community Maintenance Team</a> (CMT). To start, triage
                existing issues and pull requests to make a list of all the ones
                that seem trivial enough to begin with. Work on the issues in your
                fork of the library and submit pull requests when ready. Make sure
                the CI coverage is in place and the CI builds and tests pass. Then,
                <a href="https://lists.boost.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/boost-maint">
                contact the CMT</a> requesting to review and merge your pull requests.
                At some point, you will be granted a write access to repository
                of the library.
                </li>

                <li>Come up with a library idea of your own and begin the
                <a href="/development/submissions.html">library submission
                process</a>.</li>
              </ol>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How is a library
              accepted for posting on the site?</span> See <a href=
              "/development/submissions.html">Library Submission
              Process</a></p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How does someone
              submit a Formal Review comment?</span> Send email to <a href=
              "mailto:boost@lists.boost.org">boost@lists.boost.org</a>. See
              the <a href="/community/reviews.html">Formal Review</a> page
              for more information.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How does someone
              submit a library?</span> See <a href=
              "/development/requirements.html">Library Guidelines</a></p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Are commercial
              libraries requiring a fee acceptable?</span> No. However, a
              library that a commercial enterprise makes available without
              fee is acceptable. If the description of the library makes a
              low-key plug for the supplier, that is acceptable as long as
              the library delivers real value and isn't just a Trojan horse
              for the plug.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Are shareware
              libraries acceptable?</span> No. Only free libraries will be
              accepted.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Are open source
              license libraries acceptable?</span> Some are, many are not.
              Open source licenses often require redistribution or
              availability of source code, inclusion of license document with
              machine-executable redistribution, give the initial developer
              rights to licensee modifications, or need a lawyer to
              understand. These would be immediate disqualifications for many
              business, commercial, and consumer applications. Boost aims to
              avoid subjecting users to hard-to-comply-with license terms.
              See <a href="/development/requirements.html#License">License
              requirements</a>.</p>

              <p class="faq">This is subject to review for a particularly
              important piece of software, or as the industry changes.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Must full source code
              be provided?</span> Yes, these are source code libraries.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">What about
              documentation?</span> A very simple library might be accepted
              with only a well commented header file. For more substantial
              libraries, some form of documentation is certainly going to be
              expected. HTML is the preferred form.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Are platform specific
              libraries acceptable?</span> There is a preference for portable
              libraries. Libraries will be accepted that have portable
              interfaces but require platform specific implementations, as
              long as the author supplies implementations for a couple of
              disparate major operating systems.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Must a library do
              useful work?</span> No. A library meant as a teaching example
              or demonstration might not actually do any work.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Can an existing
              library be accepted by Boost?</span> Yes, although it would
              have to be "Boostified" to meet the requirements.&nbsp; The
              Boost Graph and Regex libraries are examples of libraries which
              began life elsewhere.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Who owns the
              libraries?</span> Presumably many authors will copyright their
              libraries. Others authors may wish to place their libraries in
              the public domain. The Boost.org policy is to only accept
              libraries with a clear copyright notice and meeting the
              <a href="/development/requirements.html#License">License
              requirements</a>. It is up to potential users to decide if the
              terms acceptable, and not to use libraries with unacceptable
              copyrights or licenses.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Is there a formal
              relationship between Boost.org and the C++ Standards
              Committee?</span> No, although there is a strong informal
              relationship in that many members of the committee participate
              in Boost, and the people who started Boost were all committee
              members.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Will the Boost.org
              libraries become part of the next C++ Standard?</span> Some
              might, someday, but that is up to the standards committee.
              Committee members who also participate in Boost will definitely
              be proposing at least some Boost libraries for
              standardization.</p>

              <p class="faq">Libraries which are "existing practice" are most
              likely to be accepted by the C++ committee for future
              standardization. Having a library accepted by Boost is one way
              to establish existing practice.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Where does the name
              "Boost" come from?</span> Boost began with Robert Klarer and I
              fantasizing about a new library effort over dinner at a C++
              committee meeting in Sofia Antipolis, France, in 1998. Robert
              mentioned that Herb Sutter was working on a spoof proposal for
              a new language named Booze, which was supposed to be better
              than Java. Somehow that kicked off the idea of "Boost" as a
              name. We'd probably had a couple of glasses of good French wine
              at that point. It was just a working name, but no one ever came
              up with a replacement. (Beman Dawes)</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Is the web site a
              commercial business?</span> No. It is just some people getting
              together as a kind of cyberspace civic association. If it ever
              needs to incorporate, it would be as a non-profit
              organization.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Is there any charge
              for submitting libraries or reviews to Boost.org?</span> No.
              Unlike the standards committees, you don't have to pay to
              volunteer!</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Will the site include
              material beyond libraries?</span> The main focus is on
              libraries, but if people contribute occasional articles or
              other material to make the site more interesting, that could be
              a nice fit.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Why isn't there a
              separate boost mailing list for my favorite library?</span> One
              of the reasons for boost's success has been the
              cross-pollination of ideas between diverse library projects and
              the occasional look into other threads by otherwise
              uninterested parties. The more people participate, the less
              they tend to be annoyed by "noise".</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How can I cope with
              the large volume of boost mailing list messages?</span> One
              approach is to use the "digest" option; that cuts the email
              blizzard down to several (long) messages per day, so you can
              glance over the subjects summary at the top and quickly read
              what you think is important. The "no mail" option turns off
              list email entirely.</p>

              <p class="faq">Another approach is to follow the list traffic
              via an NTTP newsgroup reader. See <a href=
              "/community/groups.html#newsgroup">Mailing List</a> newsgroup
              information.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Why do Boost headers
              have a .hpp suffix rather than .h or none at all?</span> File
              extensions communicate the "type" of the file, both to humans
              and to computer programs. The '.h' extension is used for C
              header files, and therefore communicates the wrong thing about
              C++ header files. Using no extension communicates nothing and
              forces inspection of file contents to determine type. Using
              '.hpp' unambiguously identifies it as C++ header file, and
              works well in actual practice. (Rainer Deyke)</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">What should I do if I
              spot a bug in the Boost code or documentation?</span> See the
              suggestions on the <a href="/development/bugs.html">Bugs
              page</a>.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">How can I request a
              new feature in a Boost Library?</span> See the <a href=
              "/community/requests.html">Requesting New Features</a>
              page.</p>

              <p class="faq"><span class="faq-question">Who's idea was
              Boost?</span> See the <a href="proposal.pdf">original
              proposal</a> (PDF).</p>
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